30th April - Lamberhurst

Lamberhurst Sermon

Acts 2; 36 to 41 and Luke 24; 13 to 35

I love the Easter season when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, because the resurrection is at the very heart of Christianity.

We become Christians as we each encounter the risen Lord Jesus and come to believe in him - and he then shares his resurrection life with us. He brings us new life and hope and forgiveness.

And I love that in this country Easter always comes during the spring – because spring in a way, mirrors the resurrection.

We see new life coming to the earth as plants that had died back over the winter - burst into life and new leaves and buds break forth.

Winter passes away and a new season of abundant growth begins.

And I think we see this change from a spiritual winter to spring reflected in today’s gospel reading from Luke.

The two disciples on their way to Emmaus were initially sad and disillusioned and their faces we are told were downcast.

Jesus on whom they had pinned their hopes has been crucified and buried and now his body seems to have disappeared and they don’t understand. Life seems bleak and confusing.

But Jesus comes alongside them and explains the scriptures to them showing that it had to be this way. As the Christ, the Messiah, it was his destiny to suffer and die for mankind in order to free us from our slavery to sin and death.

And then Jesus acts as if he’s going to leave them. He’s testing them to see if they really want to know him and continue their journey through life with him.

They urge him to stay and eat with them and welcome him into their home.

They are sincere in their desire to know him and as they break bread – their spiritual eyes are opened and they recognise him as their Lord and their God – and their lives are transformed for ever.

They have their own resurrection experience. And they can now say with certainty that Jesus is alive - that truly, he is the risen Lord.

And of course this is what God wants for each one of us here today. He wants each one of us to have our own individual resurrection experience. To encounter him and come to know him. He wants to move us from a spiritual winter – as it were – to spring.

In our wintery state we are cut off from God by our sin and selfishness. We are spiritually dead and blind and we don’t really know God. Life can seem bleak and hopeless and pointless.

But when spring comes – when the Holy Spirit – the spirit of Jesus comes to live in us - we are made spiritually alive.

We are born again as Jesus puts it – and our spiritual eyes are opened to recognise Jesus as our Lord and our God.

And as we encounter Jesus, hope and purpose and joy come with him. We are forgiven and put right with God and accepted by him.

We become his dearly beloved children and we receive all the benefits of what Jesus did for us on the cross. We are saved for ever from condemnation and judgement.

So many people including many church goers have the wrong idea about Christianity and salvation.

They have a religious mind-set and they believe that their salvation – being put right with God - is dependent on them impressing God sufficiently.

They believe that if they try and do the odd good deed and give a bit of money to charity God will put a tick against their name.

And if they come to church God will put more ticks against their name. And they believe that as long as they don’t do anything too terrible – and keep adding ticks to their religious scorecard – they will make it to heaven.

That when they die God will tot up their ticks and say well done – you’ve passed come on in.

But salvation doesn’t work like this at all. These things are worthy things to do – but if we are doing them to impress God and earn our right standing with him – then we have completely missed the point.

You see God loves people. God loves you - and above all God wants a relationship with you. And this is why he created you and this is why he died for you.

So that you can live in a relationship where you know him and his love for you. Where you can know he has accepted and forgiven you.

Not because you’re especially good or holy – or because you try and be religious - but because you’ve acknowledged your need for him and you’ve put your trust in what Jesus did for you on the cross.

However much we try and be good – however often we come to church - however much money we give to charity – we know if we’re honest that we will still end up falling short of our own standards let alone God’s.

We will still end up on occasion being selfish and greedy and unkind and hurting other people.

And this of course is why Jesus died for us on the cross. It’s why he died for you and for me personally. He took all of our sin and wrongdoing upon himself on the cross – because he loves us. And he was punished in our place so we could go free.

The prophet Isaiah puts it like this; “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

So, Jesus died for us in order that we can know him and have a relationship with him without the fear of being judged or condemned.

But how can we find a relationship with him? How can we receive the forgiveness and salvation he offers? How can we move from a spiritual winter to spring?

Well, simply put, we need to repent and then put our faith in Jesus and what he’s done for us on the cross.

And we see this illustrated in today’s passage from Acts where the crowd asks Peter – “what shall we do” and he tells them to “repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”

Many people have a negative view of repentance but actually it’s a very positive thing.

To repent means to change one’s heart or mind. It’s coming to a realisation that we need God, that we need his forgiveness and love in our lives – and that we were wrong to try and live our lives independently of him.

If you think of points on a railway track that change the direction of a train. Well genuine repentance changes the course of our life from living without God to living with him.

People can repent for different reasons. Some people – as in today’s reading from Acts - repent because they feel a burden of guilt. They know they’ve messed up their lives and hurt other people and they want forgiveness and a new start.

Peter has just explained to these Jewish people that they’ve crucified their Messiah – the very one who God had sent to save them – and they are cut the heart.

They are willing to acknowledge their guilt and they want God to forgive them and make them clean.

Perhaps there are some of you here this morning who are bearing a burden of guilt and you want God to forgive you and make you clean. You want a new start in life.

Some people repent because their lives feel empty and pointless. They want to know God and find a meaning and a purpose to their life.

The only proviso for repentance as far as God is concerned is that it is genuine. That there is a genuine desire within a person to live from now in a way that is pleasing to God – under his direction and guidance.

And when we truly repent as Peter says in verse 38 of today’s passage from Acts – God will give us the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of Jesus will come to live in our hearts and lives and will make us spiritually alive. And as he did for the disciples on the road to Emmaus - he will open our spiritual eyes to recognise Jesus as our Lord and God.

And we will move from winter - being spiritually dead – to spring, to being spiritually alive. And God will be in our lives to guide us into the fulfilment of the plans that he has for us.

And the purpose of our life with God is to love him and to love those around us – and to share the good news of the new life we have found.

As soon as the two disciples who were going to Emmaus encounter Jesus they immediately head back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples – its true Jesus really is alive.

There are so many hurting people around us in the world today – people living in a spiritual winter - who need to know that God loves them, who need to know that they can be forgiven, who need to know that there really is the hope of spring and a new start in life.

And it is our job a Christians to share the hope that we have found with them.

I’d like to end my talk with a time of prayer – which we’ll have in just a moment. And this will be a time where you can ask God for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps Jesus has been alongside you in the service this morning and your heart is burning within you - and you really would like him to stay with you.

Or perhaps you have a burden of guilt and you want to be forgiven and made clean. You want a new start in life.

Or perhaps you just really want to move from a spiritual winter to spring – and you would like to know God’s great love for you.

Whatever your reason - just repeat the prayer I’m going to say now silently in your own heart.

So let’s pray.

Lord Jesus I’m sorry for the things I’ve done wrong in my life and the people I’ve hurt.

Please forgive me as I now turn from everything which I know is wrong.

Thank you that you died on the cross for me so I can be forgiven and set free.

Thank you that you offer me new life and the gift of your Holy Spirit.

I now receive that gift.

Lord Jesus please come into my life by your spirit and stay with me for ever.

Thank you Lord Jesus. Amen.

Faith

Mark 4; 26 to 34 and Hebrews 11; 1 to 7

This morning I’d like to look at the subject of faith – what it is, how it develops and how we can nourish it, because this is absolutely central to Christianity and to having any sort of relationship with God.

So firstly, what is faith? St Augustine wrote ‘faith is to believe what we do not see - and the reward of faith is to see what we believe.’

Nicky Gumbel writes; ‘The world says I need to see first and then I will believe. Jesus says believe first then you will see.’

Christian faith essentially comes down to putting our trust in Jesus and what he says in the bible.

Its putting our trust in the one true God who although we cannot see him - we believe created the heavens and the earth – and we believe loves us and died to save us.

The reason I chose today’s reading from Mark is that it portrays the growth stages of faith.

Like a planted seed, faith grows in someone’s life. Initially the seed is buried and we can’t see it – but gradually as that person’s faith grows, the seed that was sown pushes through the soil and breaks out into the world – and grows into a plant – and then others can see it.

And as that person’s faith matures and develops it can produce a work – like a large tree - that is evident to all.

Think of someone like Mother Teresa for instance - who from a small seed of faith developed a ministry of caring for the poor and destitute that is still known all around the world – a massive tree of faith bearing testimony to the existence of God.

And, I think we can identify 3 stages to the growth of faith in our lives. The first is what I’d describe as the seeking faith stage; the second is the saving faith stage; and the third is the serving faith stage – as our faith grows and matures and we bear fruit.

And each one of us here this morning will be at some point in this faith growth process.

So firstly, the seeking faith stage. And as we see in today’s gospel reading in verse 26 - the starting point for faith is with a seed being sown in our lives. And this seed is something that sparks our interest in God or causes us to question our existence.

It’s something that makes us look beyond ourselves for answers. It’s the faith that like a seed buried in soil -  gropes in the dark for answers.

I think the starting point for my faith was coming to the conclusion – because of what I saw with my eyes – the created world around me – that there must be a God.

I understood that order could not come from chaos by chance. I saw tremendous precision and creativity in the world around me and the idea that this developed randomly was ridiculous to me.

I saw there must be a creator God and I wanted some sort of explanation for my existence – and so I sought him.

How did I do that?  I exercised faith and prayed to him. I said God – I don’t know who you are – but I believe you exist and that you created me - and I want to know you. And I want to know why you created me.

Many people I suspect are the same as me and the starting point for their faith is perhaps seeing the created world around them.

Others who are very rationally minded – perhaps start by reading the gospels or analysing the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection – and become convinced it’s true.

And others perhaps see something in Christians they know – a certain quality or love or something different about their lives – perhaps their assurance of faith – that sows a seed in their lives and causes them to question.

And at this point it’s likely – as I did - that we may start to pray – albeit tentatively – and as soon as we start to pray – however unsure we may be, we are starting to exercise faith.

We start to reach out towards and seek a God we cannot see or touch. Like that buried seed we start by faith to grow up through the soil towards the daylight.

If you are in this seeking stage the good news is that Jesus promises if you persevere in seeking him, you will find him.

Jesus says in Luke’s gospel - "And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.”

You will – if you persevere - enter the next stage of faith.

And the next stage of faith is the saving faith stage. This is the stage where the seed of faith that was sown in our life – breaks out through the soil into the world above and reaches the daylight.

This is the stage where having thought about the meaning of life and prayed and sought God - we make the decision that we want God in our lives.

Perhaps we’ve been coming to church for a while or we’ve examined the evidence and we’ve become convinced that the gospel – the good news of Jesus – is true.

And we reach the point where we acknowledge our need for God. We realise that we need his love and his forgiveness - and so we are prepared to open our hearts – and invite him wholeheartedly into our lives.

In short, we’re prepared to repent. We’re prepared to submit ourselves to God’s plan and purpose for our lives and take a step of faith and say yes to God.

‘Lord I really want you in my life. I want to know your love for me. I want to live my life with you – your way. I want you to be my Lord and my God.’

As I’ve said previously this stage can happen at a specific moment in our lives or over a period of time.

Some Christians can put their finger on the exact time that they invited Jesus into their life and came to know him.

Other Christians though can’t put their finger on the moment they broke through the soil and encountered daylight.

All they know is that six months ago they were still in darkness but now they’re not.

As Mike said at Cafe Church a couple of weeks ago - this can be particularly true for children who have been bought up in Christian homes who have known God from their childhood.

Some people can get a bit stuck at this stage because they become nervous about saying yes to God – and so they hesitate. But saying yes to God is the best thing we can ever do.

The reason I’ve called this the saving faith stage is, that it is at this point – the point where we say yes to God – and his plan for our lives - that we are saved from condemnation and judgement – and our faith becomes alive.

Our spiritual eyes are opened and we come to know God and start to understand that he loves us. We cross over from death to life and we become God’s children and members of his family.

God comes by his spirit – the spirit of Jesus to live in our hearts – to lead and guide us towards the fulfilment of the plans he has for us.

So, if you’ve been hesitating I’d urge you to choose God today – this morning. Just say yes to him in your heart – and choose life and love and forgiveness and blessing and fulfilment.

The final stage of faith is what I’ve called the serving stage of faith – it’s the stage where having accepted God - our faith grows and matures. Like green leaves emerging on a plant – we start to put out stalks or branches and bear fruit.

In the West sadly many Christians can reach the saving faith stage and break through the soil – but then grow very little and remain stunted and bear little fruit.

It’s easy as Jesus points out in the parable of the sower – for us to become pre-occupied with the cares and worries of everyday life – and like weeds these overshadow us – and our growth becomes stunted.

If we are to grow and to bear fruit, we need to continue to live by faith. We need to cultivate the relationship that we have found with God. We need to talk to him every day in prayer and to read our bibles.

And the key to growing in our faith is I think - submitting ourselves to God.

Paul says in his letter to the Colossians; “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

We receive Christ through submitting ourselves to him and we grow in faith by continuing to live in submission to his plan and purpose for our lives.

Jesus calls us to bear fruit and so we need to offer ourselves to him in service. ‘Lord show me what you want me to do. Show me how I can serve you.’

And then as we are obedient to what he asks us to do – we will find that he helps us – and our faith and confidence will grow and we will start to bear fruit.

If you’re a Christian, God has something – some work that he wants you to do. And you may feel oh goodness I’m not sure I can do that but God will help you every step of the way.

And this is what this chapter from Hebrews is really about. It’s a potted history of men and women in the Old Testament who were obedient to what God asked them to do – who submitted themselves by faith to his plan and purpose for their lives.

If we are going to bear fruit, we need to follow their example. We need to offer ourselves to God – and pray to him to show us what he wants us to do and then act on it.

The other part of submitting ourselves to God that will really help our faith to grow is submitting our minds to God’s word as revealed in the bible.

Its accepting by faith that the bible is the inspired word of God - and allowing it to shape and influence our thinking.

As Christians, we can have absolute confidence and trust in what the bible teaches us – because as Paul tells us it is God breathed. Men may have written down the words but the spirit of God inspired them to write what they did.

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

In other words, as we study and accept and believe what the bible and particularly the New Testament teach us – we will come to know the truth about life and death and salvation and God’s great love for us – and this will have a liberating effect on us.

We will come to understand that we are safe and secure with God – and that through the cross he has completely freed us from condemnation and judgement.

We will come to understand that our salvation is not based on our own performance or effort – but on what Jesus accomplished for us through the cross.

And as we understand this more and more – the more we will want to share this good news with others.

So, to conclude what I want to say this morning – we are all a bit like plants in various stages of growth. Some of us may be in the seeking faith stage – and if that’s you I‘d urge you to keep on seeking God. Keep coming to church. Keep asking questions. Keep praying in faith because God wants you to find him – and if you persevere you will.

Some may be at the saving faith stage - ready to break through the soil. If that’s you - perhaps you’ve been waiting for God to do something miraculous and reveal himself to you. But actually - perhaps he’s waiting for you to say yes to him – yes to his plan and purpose for your life.

And some of us are at serving faith stage – growing and putting out stems and branches that will bear fruit.

If that’s you – the key to growth is submission – offering ourselves to God in service – and then by faith doing what he asks us to do. And also allowing God’s word to shape our thinking; and the love and security we find as we study it, should then motivate us to share our faith with others. In the name of the living God. Amen

New Year Message

New Year Message

This morning at the start of the New Year I’d like to try and say something about God’s purpose in creating us and His plan for our lives and the world.

And I want to start by saying something that you’ve all heard before – but which is important for you to hear often – firstly because its true and secondly because it is the very foundation of what Christianity is all about.

And that is that God loves you! Yes you – sitting here this morning. Whoever you are and whatever you’ve done – God loves you. And He doesn’t just love you a little bit. He loves you enormously.

You are incredibly precious to him. In fact you are so precious to Him that he’d rather die than be separated from you. 

And of course that’s precisely what He did. Paul says in his letter to the Galatians; “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Jesus died for you personally, because he wanted to deal with everything unlovely about you – everything that separated you from him - so you could enjoy your life in relationship with him and be his forever.

If any of you are parents, you will know when your child is ill – that you would like to take their sickness from them and be ill instead of them – so they can be well again.

Well that is how God feels about you. Jesus took our sin and guilt and bore our punishment so we could be free – free from fear and condemnation – and so we can stand guiltless and forgiven before him.

So, God loves you – but let’s unpack a bit what that means. It means that He really cares about your everyday life – and He is passionately interested in the details of your life.

He is interested in your relationships. He is interested in your family and friends. He is interested in your work, your hobbies and pastimes.

And He wants all these things to be the best they can be for you - as you choose to live life His way in relationship with Him.

You see God loves life and He created us so that we could enjoy life too. God created us so that we could share our lives with Him and enjoy the beauty of His creation.

When God finished creating the world we’re told in Genesis chapter 1 “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”

When you see a beautiful sunset just stop a few moments and watch it. It’s there for you to enjoy. And in a few minutes it will be gone.

God wants us to delight in the beauty of the natural world around us. Have you seen those tiny spider’s webs that appear on the grass in their thousands on sunny mornings when its dewy.

What about kittens and puppies or funny animals like sloths or duck billed platypusses? God created some of these as pets to give us pleasure and others simply to make us smile.

And what about the scent of roses, or the taste of honey or some other favourite food. These things all express something of the character of God and His love towards us because He made them for our pleasure.

Did you know that there is a sense of joy in creation? Isaiah chapter 55 speaks of the mountains and hills bursting into song, and all the trees of the field clapping their hands.

And animals can experience great joy. As many of you know, I’m married to a dairy farmer – and when we let the calves out into the fields in spring when the weather is better – they rush around and jump for joy – because they’re happy to be alive.

And ideally God wants us to rejoice in the good things in our lives and to be happy to be alive too.

Some of you may be thinking at this point – but what about all the problems in my life and all the suffering in the world and all the pain and misery and confusion we see around us.

Well yes – God’s perfect creation has been spoilt – and there is evil and pain and cruelty and suffering. And we all suffer at one time or another.

But God hasn’t given up on the world or on you. He is in the business of restoring and repairing the world. Many people reject Him but that doesn’t stop Him loving them and wanting the best for them.

Ideally, He wants to put things right. This is why I chose the Old Testament reading from Isaiah. Because these were the words that Jesus spoke at the start of his ministry.

“The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

And God puts things right person by person, individual by individual. He wants to sort out the mess and confusion in our lives. He wants to restore our broken relationships and to bring peace and joy into our lives.

And then He wants us to roll up our sleeves and help to put right the world around us. To love and help other people; to be peace makers; to be relationship restorers.

To tell other people that there is a God and that He loves them and that He has the power to help them.

You see God knows best. He understands this world and He understands our lives perfectly. He sees the root cause of everything that is wrong in our lives and the lives of people around us.

And as we co-operate with Him - He wants to untangle the mess we get ourselves into and then for us to help untangle the mess others get into.

Most Christmases I end up putting lights on the Christmas tree and every year however carefully you put them away, the lights for the tree end up getting tangled.

And I spend ages carefully untangling them.

Well, God wants to untangle you and he knows precisely how to do it. But he needs your co-operation and obedience in order to do it.

If you’ve ever tried to take a bramble out of a dog’s coat you will know that it’s incredibly difficult if the dog keeps moving or trying to run off.

Well it’s difficult for God to untangle our lives if we keep moving away from Him or running off in our own direction.

It’s the start of a New Year and I think what God wants to ask us this morning is - do we want to do life over the coming year with God or without Him. Do we want to surrender ourselves to Him and try and live life His way – or do we want to go our own way.

It’s up to us. God will never force us to do anything. But if we choose to do life with Him – rather than on our own, He will lead us by His spirit - is spirit - hstep by step and day by day towards the fulfilment His plan and purpose for our life.

And part of this plan is to restore us and make us whole, to untangle us and free us from confusion and fear and to give us hope and a future.

Of course this takes time and it won’t be fully completed until one day we are made perfect in heaven. But the more we submit ourselves to God and try and live in a way that is pleasing to Him – the more He will free us and make us whole.

Some people love restoring old cars or motorbikes; some people restore paintings or antiques or old houses.

There is a great satisfaction in restoring something we regard as precious or valuable to its former glory. And God derives great satisfaction from restoring us.

Psalm 35 says “the Lord delights in the well-being of his servant.” God loves to free us from the things that spoil our lives and to see us filled with His life and peace and joy as we learn to live life His way and to obey His commandments.

And His commandments aren’t designed to spoil our fun. On the contrary they are designed to help us live in peace with our neighbours and to enjoy life.

And this is why I chose today’s reading about Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was greedy and unpopular and lonely and bound by his love of money.

But as He invites Jesus into his house and into his life, God sets him free  - and he starts to share and give back his money because he’s found something better.

He’s no longer bound by it – and he can start to experience the joy of giving. And his new-found generosity will then flow into the lives of the people around him and make their lives easier.

The other thing I want to say this morning is that God sees great potential in every person here today.

He has invested gifts and talents and abilities in everyone and He sees how these can be used to make Him known and to bless and help other people.

I mentioned a bit earlier about how we like to restore things – for the purpose they were made. And God restores us also – for the purpose we were made.

And that purpose is to play some part in extending His kingdom on the earth.

He wants to work with us and through us to extend His kingdom and make our little corner of the world a better place.

And God sees potential in every person however old or outwardly down trodden or seemingly weak they may be.

Every person has the potential to be filled with the Spirit of Jesus to be loving and kind and generous and happy.

To shine like a star in this dark world as Paul puts it.

Yes, the world is dark and we hear of terrible things in the news each day but behind the scenes all around the world are Christians with their sleeves rolled up, working and giving and praying to help change the world.

So, to close, as we start this New Year as I said earlier, I think God wants to ask us quite simply - if we want to do life in the year ahead with Him or without Him.

We can react negatively to what’s going on in the world or our lives and blame God for the mess.

Or we can submit ourselves to Him and invite Him into our lives to be our Lord and our God. And then do our best each day to walk with Him through life – and allow Him to heal and straighten out our lives as we in turn – with His help – seek to be an agent of healing and restoration to those around us.

I’d like to close with a brief time of prayer and reflection.